EntangledAyse Erkmen

Folkestone is home to seven Martello Towers dating back to the Napoleonic Wars. Martello 3, in the East of town, is a fairly well kept tower, painted white, and up to 2001, was used as a visitor centre by Shepway District Council. In contrast, Martello 4 in the West of Folkestone is more of a ruin and completely taken over by a massive layer of ivy that has embedded itself into the 13 ft deep walls. Entangled emulates the ivy cover of Martello 4 at Martello 3 (in what the artist calls ‘a jealousy project’), with a malleable, plastic floral form created by designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. 15,000 of these plastic ‘ivy’ units were joined together similar to Lego, they shrouded the exterior of Martello 3 like a giant curtain or blanket. The camouflage colours refered to the tower’s wartime history.

Ayse Erkmen’s spectacular public projects and subtle architectural interventions engage with the architectural, historical, and cultural context of the site she is working with.

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2008 Artists

You can still view artworks from the Folkestone Triennial 2008 Tales of Time and Space, curated by Andrea Schlieker. A number of these artworks from our first Triennial remain on permanent display in the public realm of our town as part of Folkestone Artworks, a collection of 27 outstanding works that can be enjoyed free of charge, all year round.